I apologise to my regular readers for the recent blog silence. A combination of particularly heavy work demands and a really bad cold that just hasn’t wanted to stop have usurped my blogging time and energy.

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Michael Saward, who wrote this hymn, passed away this week while on holiday in Switzerland. I don’t know anything about the author, but he has left us a wonderful hymn, one of my favourites (of course, I have a LOT of favourites). There is nothing complicated about this hymn, but perhaps part of its power is in its simplicity.

This article continues my series based on my sermon on the incarnation of Christ — “The Word was Made Flesh.” In this article I’d like to look briefly at the core importance of this doctrine. The Scriptures make this a test case, a dividing line, and those on the wrong side of it are on the side of antichrist.

You will only enjoy this if you like Gilbert and Sullivan, or have some passing interest in Biblical language study, or in Biblical archaeology, or Biblical studies in general, or anything to do with Ancient Near Eastern studies, or think it is sometimes good to laugh at liberal theology, or have a little interest in the writings of early Christians, or in ancient manuscripts.

You don’t have to understand all that or even most of it to appreciate what’s been done here. But if you have absolutely no interest in (or knowledge of) ANY of those things, and don’t like Gilbert and Sullivan, and don’t have a sense of humour, save yourself the three enjoyable minutes of the following video. (HT: Glenn Chatfield, who posted this in one of his “Some Random Good Stuff” posts — and believe me, this is random!)

The blog has been quiet for a while, a lot of things going on around here. Anyway, I’d like to return in this article to my sermon on the incarnation of Christ — “The Word was Made Flesh” — using John 1:14 as my starting point. As I said, I’m writing on this sermon in several installments.